Blogger Threatened to Murder Judges, Feds Say

A white supremacist blogger and internet radio host was arrested and charged Wednesday with threatening to kill judges, the authorities said.

Hal Turner was arrested at his apartment in suburban New Jersey. According to court documents, after a three-judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals upheld a Chicago handgun ban, he blogged that the judges should be “killed.”

“Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed. Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty. A small price to pay to assure freedom for millions,” he wrote on his blog (turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com) on June 2, the day of the ruling, according to court documents. A day later he posted addresses, photos, maps and other identifying information about Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer, the authorities said.

An FBI agent said (.pdf) Turner told the authorities “he did not intend to injure the judges but believed he would be criminally responsible if someone reading his website acted on what he posted to his website.”

The banner on his Turner Radio Network site includes this logo: “Free Speech: No Matter who Doesn’t Like It!”

Turner, who is to appear in New Jersey federal court Thursday, faces a maximum 10-year term if convicted.

“We take threats to federal judges very seriously. Period,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

State charges are also pending against the 47-year-old Turner in Hartford, Connecticut, where he is accused of inciting readers to “take up arms” against state lawmakers.

Two years ago, Turner’s site allegedly was the victim of denial of service attacks by the group, Anonymous. Hackers also claimed he was an FBI informant after posting e-mail allegedly between Turner and an agent.